BEEVILLE — Officers with the Beeville Police Department have been busy making drug-related arrests.

According to Police Chief Joe Treviño and Sgt. John Berry, the first arrest happened on Aug. 11 just after midnight when Berry spotted a Ford F-250 driving along the 1000 block of West Crockett Street with no license plates.

Patrolman Josh Meakins quickly arrived to provide support and the two officers asked to search the vehicle. When permission was granted, the officers started finding what they suspected were illegal drugs.

Within a short time, the officers had found 27 Xanax tablets. Meakins then found some methamphetamine and the search turned up 20 grams of heroin.

“We don’t see much heroin down here,” Treviño said.

The driver, 20-year-old Derrick Wessels, was charged with the state jail felony of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and his passenger, 21-year-old Emily Arredondo, was arrested on two second degree felony drug possession charges.

State jail felonies are punishable by a sentence of up to two years in a state jail facility and a fine of $10,000.

A conviction on a second degree felony charge could result in a prison sentence of as much as 20 years and a $10,000 fine.

The other incident took place on the night of Aug. 14 when Berry and Patrolman Garrett Davidson searched a vehicle during a routine traffic stop.

In that incident, the officers found 17-year-old Adriana Garcia, Matthew Martinez and Ryan Fuentes in the vehicle. Both men were 20 years old.

Berry said Garcia was found to have synthetic marijuana, an anti-depressant and marijuana in her possession and the two men had marijuana.

Garcia was charged with a state jail felony for possession of the prescription drug and with two Class B misdemeanors for the possession of the synthetic marijuana and the marijuana.

The two men were charged with Class B misdemeanors for possessing marijuana.

A conviction on a Class B misdemeanor charge could result in a $2,000 fine and up to 180 days in jail.

The third case involved a call from the corporate office of Walgreen’s Pharmacies.

The office tipped off the police that someone was using fraudulent prescription forms to obtain prescription drugs from their stores.

Berry and Treviño said Detective Sgt. Greg Baron joined him and Patrolman Yadial Rodriguez in monitoring the store here and the pharmacy at the local Walmart Supercenter to look for the suspect.

The evening of the arrest the police received a couple of tips of the suspect buying drugs using the fraudulent forms and with the help of Patrolman Salvador Sanchez, they were able to make an arrest.

Treviño said the suspect, identified at 29-year-old Gabriel Anthony Garcia of Corpus Christi, was booked into the Bee County Jail Monday evening on two charges of possession of a fraudulent prescription form. The charge is a state jail felony.

Berry said Garcia also was wanted on a warrant out of Corpus Christi for the same offense.

Gary Kent is a reporter at the Bee-Picayune and can be reached at 343-5220, or at reporter@mySouTex.com.